Best Photos of 2008 by MSNBC

South Korea loses historic gate
South Korea's "No. 1 national treasure," Namdaemun, burns in Seoul on Feb. 11. Police
said a 69-year-old man admitted setting the fire. Namdaemun, "the great
southern gate," was built in the original walls surrounding Seoul
during the Joseon Dynasty. Construction began in 1395.
Lee Jin-man/AP

Russian bombing kills 5 in Georgia
A
Georgian man holds the body of a relative after a Russian warplane
dropped a bomb on an apartment block in Gori, 50 miles from Tbilisi, on
Aug. 9. At least five people were killed. In August, Georgia and Russia
fought a short war over the region known as South Ossetia.
Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Palestinian protesters gassed
Tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers on May 27, envelops Palestinian protesters taking cover behind an olive tree in the West Bank
village of Nilin. The protest was over the separation barrier that
Israel is building and says is necessary for security. Palestinians call
it a land grab.
Kevin Frayer/AP

Violence breaks out in Kenya
A
man suspected of trying to vandalize a store is held after being beaten
by private guards in Nakuru, Kenya, on Jan. 26. Hundreds of people were
killed and hundreds of thousands were left homeless by rioting and
tribal killings sparked by a disputed presidential election.
Walter Astrada/AFP Getty Images

Brief pause in Gaza border tension
This Israel soldier was among those deployed Feb. 25, in a wheat field along the border with Gaza. Israel deployed thousands of police and troops against the threat of a mass penetration of Palestinian protesters from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

Hooping it up in Florida
Brothers Andrew Horton, 6, right, and Isaiah McLeod, 7, hula-hoop outside their grandmother's home
in Port Lucie, Fla., after a rain shower July 2. "They kept crashing
into things with their hoops so I sent them outside to play," said their
grandmother, Bonnie Smith.
Amanda Voisard/The Palm Beach Post via Zuma Press

Big chill: Snow hits Jordan
Jordanians
take advantage of a rare snowfall to have some fun in Amman on Jan. 31.
A heavy snowstorm blanketed Jordan the night before, closing schools
and stores, halting public transportation and turning men into kids for
the moment.
Muhammad Hamed/Reuters

Striking a pose in Ukraine
A
woman straightens her overcoat as she passes one of the monuments in
the open-air World War II museum in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 8. The next
day Ukraine, Russia and other post-Soviet countries were to celebrate
Victory Day, the anniversary of the end of the war.
Sergei Supinsky/AFP Getty Images

Hurricane casualties in Texas
Dead
fish remain stuck in a fence as flood waters from Hurricane Ike recede
in West Orange, Texas, on Sept. 15. Ike killed more than 80 people in
the United States and caused severe damage in Galveston and nearby towns
and cities.
Eric Gay/AP

Dutch children vaccinated
A
boy gets a shot March 12, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He was one of
about 3,500 children to be vaccinated that day against infectious
diseases, such as tetanus and measles.
Robin Utrecht/AFP Getty Images

Turf war?
A vicious fight for dominance between two Cape grey squirrels is seen at a campground
at Etosha National Park in Namibia on Dec. 5. A colony of the
squirrels, which are poor tree climbers so tend to live below ground in
burrows, ventured to the surface to forage for food.
David Slater/Zuma Press

Flood fun follows tropical storm
Lena Davis, 5, swims in the water surrounding her home
in Chauvin, La., on Aug. 4. The storm surge from Tropical Storm Edouard
put almost 2 feet of water in her front yard. Storms caused substantial
damage along the U.S. Gulf Coast during the 2008 hurricane season.
Matt Stamey/The Houma Courier

Deadly jet crash in Congo
People
rush for water to fight a blaze started when a plane crashed in Goma,
in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 15. Nearly 50
people died when the DC-9 plane plowed into a market, but almost all the
casualties were on the ground.
Lionel Healing/AFP Getty Images

Hostages held in Venezuelan bank
Hostages
inside a branch of the Banco Provincial in Altagracia de Orituco,
Venezuela, plead for help Jan. 29. After a botched robbery the previous
day, four armed men held more than 30 people for more than 24 hours.
They surrendered after fleeing the bank in an ambulance.
Juan Barreto/AFP Getty Images

Bloody seal hunt in Canada
A
blood trail from a harp seal is left after sealers loaded carcasses
from an ice floe off the coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia on
March 31. Canada's fisheries agency estimated the harp seal population
at 5.9 million, more than triple what it was in the 1970s.
Paul Darrow/Reuters

Brazilian peasants evicted
A
woman tries to resist Amazonas state policemen who expelled her and
some 200 other members of the Landless Movement from privately owned
land on the outskirts of Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon on March 11. The peasants fought with bows and arrows against tear gas and trained dogs.
Luiz Vasconcelos/Reuters

Congolese face desperate journey
A man and two children head north from the city of Kibati to their
village in Congo on Nov. 2. Hundreds of thousands of people were
displaced in fighting between rebels and government troops in the
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP Getty Images

Surrender in Comoros battle
An
injured man is arrested by Comoran soldiers and African Union soldiers
from Tanzania after the soldiers shot rockets into his house in
Mutsamudu, the second-largest city in the Comoros islands, on March 25.
The soldiers were battling rebels on the island of Anjouan.
Jose Cendon/AFP Getty Images

Tossed to safety in Germany
Residents of an apartment building
throw 9-month-old Onur Celar from a fourth-floor window to rescuers
below Feb. 3, in Ludwigshafen, Germany. A fire started on the first
floor, trapping residents above, but a policeman safely caught the girl.
The fire killed nine people and injured 28.
Rene Werse/AFP Getty Images

Goslings cuddle up in Oregon
A Canada goose shelters her goslings from the rain at a park in Roseburg, Ore., on April 23.
Robin Loznak/The News-Review

Kansas barn stormin'
An
old barn stands in a wheat field as a powerful thunderstorm passes
overhead near Ogallah, Kan., on May 22. Severe thunderstorms spawned
tornadoes across much of northwest Kansas that day.
Charlie Riedel/AP

Festival is a Bucharest blast
Fireworks
explode above a crowd in a grassy field during the Golden Nights
International Pyrotechnic Festival in Bucharest, Romania, on July 5.
Mihai Barbu/Reuters

Volcano lights up southern Chile
Lightning
bolts crackle around a towering column of ash as southern Chile's
Chaiten volcano begins its first eruption in thousands of years on May
2. Scientists differ over what causes electrical storms that break out
directly above erupting volcanoes.
Carlos Gutierrez/Patagonia Press

Indian villager collects lily seeds
A
villager collects seeds from giant water lilies, commonly known as
makhana, near Guwahati city in northeast India on June 6. The lilies'
puffed seeds are a delicacy, and villagers sell them to earn money.
EPA

Bird meets its double in Germany
A
blue tit comes beak to beak with its reflection through raindrops in a
car's rearview mirror in Friedrichshafen, Germany, on Feb. 29.
Felix Kaestle/AP

Shaking up a Quebec zoo
A polar bear sends water droplets flying as it shakes at St-Felicien Wildlife Zoo in St-Felicien, Quebec, Canada, on March 6.
Mathieu Belanger/Reuters

Chinese flee landslide in quake
People
flee a massive landslide during an aftershock on May 17, in Lixian
County in China's Sichuan province. The aftershock occurred five days
after the country's worst earthquake in 58 years; about 70,000 people
were killed in the May 12 quake and its aftershocks.
China Photos/Getty Images

Student killed in China quake
The
body of a student is carried from the debris of the collapsed Juyuan
Middle School on May 13, in Juyuan Township, in Dujiangyan in southwest
China's Sichuan province. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the
May 12 quake, many of them children who died in collapsed schools.
Xi Xui/Zuma Press

Family mourns China's dead
Relatives
cry next to the body of a student near a school in Hanwang Town,
Mianzhu County, Sichuan province, on May 14. China faced a daunting
rebuilding task to replace millions of homes, schools and businesses
destroyed by the May 12 earthquake.
Jason Lee/Reuters

Rubble reveals China quake victim
A
body lies in the rubble of a collapsed building in Dujiangyan, China,
on May 13. About 70,000 people were killed by the May 12 earthquake and
its aftershocks, and millions of people were left homeless.
Ng Han Guan/AP

Tears of pain for quake survivor
Zeng
Peng, 7, is comforted by his father as a doctor removes stitches from
his leg at a hospital in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province
on June 2. The boy lost his left leg to injuries suffered during the May
12 earthquake.
Oded Balilty/AP

Fire strikes before storm hits Texas
Fire
destroys homes along the beach on Galveston Island, Texas, as Hurricane
Ike approaches on Sept. 12. The storm's center struck the next day
north of the city of Galveston, causing severe damage. Many Galveston
residents who fled were not allowed to return for nearly two weeks.
David J. Phillip/AP

Debris jams bridge in Iowa flooding
Buildings,
boats and debris are pushed against a railroad bridge over the swollen
Cedar River on June 14, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Rain that began falling
in early June caused flooding in the upper Midwest that drove tens of
thousands from their homes and caused billions in damage.
Jeff Roberson/AP

Casualty of Iraq buried in Texas
The
casket of Cpl. Joshua Alexander Molina, 20, is taken from St. Matthews
Episcopal Church to Houston National Cemetery on April 8. Molina died
five days before in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds from an explosion. He was
assigned to the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.
Eric Kayne/Houston Chronicle

Close call in Afghanistan
A
U.S. Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit ducks debris after
Taliban fighters opened fire on his position near Garmser in Helmand
Province, Afghanistan, on May 18. The Marine was not injured.
Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Future voters in South Carolina
From
left, Shaniece Sprattling, 8, Ilona Cooper, 5, Imani Cooper, 10, Indya
Cooper, 8, and Ciera McNeil, 10, cheer as Barack Obama speaks at a rally
in Dillon, S.C., on Jan. 23. The Democrat toured South Carolina in the
week leading up to the state's presidential primary.
Scout Tufankjian/Polaris

Swirl of optimism for Clinton
Sen.
Hillary Clinton celebrates in Columbus, Ohio, on election night after
winning Democratic presidential primaries in Ohio, Texas and Rhode
Island on March 4. In the end, Clinton was not able to overcome Barack
Obama's lead in delegates.
Robyn Beck/AFP Getty Images

McCain concedes to Obama
With
his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, at his side, Sen. John
McCain of Arizona speaks to the crowd during his election night rally
before Republican supporters in Phoenix on Nov. 4. McCain conceded the
presidential election to Democrat Barack Obama.
Mike Blake/Reuters

Spotlight on Democrats' nominee
Sen.
Barack Obama walks toward daughters Malia and Sasha and wife Michelle
after accepting the party's nomination for president at the Democratic
National Convention on Aug. 28, in Denver.
Win McNamee/AFP Getty Images